Will your next car will be an automatic? Is it possible?

[ClutchFork]

The aerostar 3.0 had a dimwitted tranny would do a lot of flip flopping or downshift more gears that I wanted it to. .

I had an '88 Aerostar with the 3.0 and 5 speed manual. That combination while rare provided acceptable acceleration and fuel economy if I recall correctly.

The other day I was next to a UPS truck. A lot of the time those are driven with the driver's door open in good weather - I could see it was an automatic. I then was next to a good sized dump truck, not one with a pickup truck cab, but a smaller version of an 18-wheeler. Don't know if it was a Mack or what - but I listened and heard it was an automatic! That was strange.

The weekend is here so I'm looking forward to driving a standard shift again.

Manual Aerostar would be nice. I worked for a city parks department many years ago. They had these big dump trucks that were automatic transmission, and they had one small dump, an F350 with a 4 speed manual that first was a creeper gear. I got to drive it a lot when I worked there. Funny thing was while the big dumps had auto trannies, they had manual chokes--go figure.

[tankinbeans]

This makes me wonder if there is a reason semis aren't automatic, if there are any I never hear them. Are automatics too fragile for that application, or would they just be too big?

[Shadow]

This makes me wonder if there is a reason semis aren't automatic, if there are any I never hear them. Are automatics too fragile for that application, or would they just be too big?

There are automatic big rigs. I watched a YouTube video of a big rig made by Volvo with a fully automatic transmission.

[Shadow]

Check this out:

[comingbackdown]

This makes me wonder if there is a reason semis aren't automatic, if there are any I never hear them. Are automatics too fragile for that application, or would they just be too big?

There are automatic big rigs. I watched a YouTube video of a big rig made by Volvo with a fully automatic transmission.

There are indeed. They're not the most common thing at this point though, and they haven't quite got it.

The reason most big rigs are manual transmission is this: It used to be they couldn't design an affordable automatic that would handle a big rig's demands. Serious weight pulling, stupidly torque heavy engines, etc. Yada yada so on, etc.

[Squint]

Was talking with the wife yesterday, she mentioned that she wants an auto for the next car we purchase. Whenever that will be... I'll still try to convince her to get a manual anyway. It worked on the Fiesta

[tankinbeans]

Was talking with the wife yesterday, she mentioned that she wants an auto for the next car we purchase. Whenever that will be... I'll still try to convince her to get a manual anyway. It worked on the Fiesta

She can have the auto, you can have the party.

[Squint]

Pretty much. Even if she gets an auto, about the only time I would drive it is if we were riding together. µSquint needing a safe car that he fits in and all...

[Stelcom66]

Check this out:

Interesting video - from a clutch and long stick shift to push buttons. I didn't know automatics were available in such large trucks.
I wonder how many speeds, probably many.

I remember the GM transit buses in the 60's and even the older rounder styled 50's models had Allison automatic transmissions. They were just 2 speeds. First (Low) would be held to quite a high rpm, then it sounded like the driver let up on the accelerator. The transmission would cut or reduce the engine rpm during the shift to High so it wouldn't be as abrupt. Back in the 80's there were some of those buses at a trolley museum in my area that I visited. I went inside a few. The transmission was just a 3 position lever from the floor, Neutral, Forward and Reverse.